Governments Preparing to Hammer Equifax

The number of government agencies and entities that are investigating Equifax continues to grow. This comes as fresh disclosures reveal an earlier unreported hack occurred at the company in March.

This week, it emerged that prosecutors at the US Justice Department (DOJ) and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating possible insider trading activity by top executives at Equifax for selling shares prior to the company’s announcement of its massive data breach. Also, DOJ and the FBI are said to be cooperating on a probe of the huge hack of personal information.

Elsewhere on the federal level are probes by the House Financial Services Committee, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Federal Trade Commission. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers have already begun introducing legislation in response to the debacle.

At the state level, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey plans to sue the company for failing to protect sensitive and personal information of up to nearly three million residents in the state. In California, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and his team “continue to work with Equifax to get to the bottom of this unacceptable breach of consumers’ trust,” his office said. “We will do what’s necessary to hold Equifax accountable.”

Tougher regulations for the industry are coming, too. For instance, the state of New York is proposing stricter regulation of the credit reporting industry. Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday directed the state Department of Financial Services to issue new regulations that would require credit reporting agencies to register with the state for the first time and to comply with its cybersecurity standard.

Meanwhile, two senior Equifax executives have retired. However, that’s unlikely to quench the fire of prosecutors, legislators, and politicians who vow to hold the company and its leadership accountable, not only for the leaks but for the firm’s responses.

Meanwhile, two senior Equifax executives have retired. However, that’s unlikely to quench the fire of prosecutors, legislators, and politicians who vow to hold the company and its leadership accountable, not only for the leaks but for the firm’s responses.

Governments Preparing to Hammer Equifax was last modified: September 19th, 2017 by Thomas Ressler